1. Field of the Invention
An electrically-conductive terminal adapted for use in an electrical connector includes a horizontal upper surface containing a downwardly extending first bore in which is mounted a U-shaped protective spring. The spring has a bulging generally circular bridging portion adjacent the bottom of the first bore, and a pair of upwardly extending leg portions. A clamping screw is mounted in a threaded horizontal second bore for displacing one of the leg portions toward clamping engagement with a conductor bare end that is inserted downwardly into the first bore. The bulging bridging portion of the spring extends outwardly beyond the adjacent ends of the leg portions into diametrically opposed recesses contained in the wall of the first bore and defined by a horizontal third bore, thereby to retain the protective spring in the first bore.
2. Brief Description of the Prior Art
As evidenced by the Published European Patent Application No. EP 1 434 312 A2 and the German Patent No. DE 198 04 702 C1, it is known in the prior art to provide electrical terminals with first bores for receiving the bare ends of insulated conductors, together with protective members for protecting the conductors against damage by the clamping screws that clamp the bare conductors in the first bores.
In the European published application, for example, the protective member is in the form of a U-shaped spring having a clamping leg that is clamped by the screw means against the bare conductor, and a retaining leg that has at its free extremity an outwardly bent retaining portion that extends into an opening contained in the terminal wall. In the German patent, the protective member is generally L-shaped and includes a lower leg portion provided with lateral barbs or projections that dig into the adjacent surfaces of the terminal bore. In each case, it is difficult to insert the protective member into the first bore, and often special tools are required to remove the protective members from the first bore. Moreover, there are special requirements for the material properties of this protective member, because, upon insertion into the first bore, it must be compressed relatively strongly so that adequately high restoring forces are required in order to spread the compressed legs apart from each other. This is particularly the case in the European publication in order to allow the angled retaining end to catch within the hole.
On the whole, the known protective devices are not suitable for facilitating mass production that would be optimized in terms of cost. This is a problem because typical contact elements are made as series-produced parts in large unit numbers. Problems arising during the assembly of the resilient protective spring also occur in the case of the device of the German patent, wherein the protective member is locked within the first bore by means of lateral, barb-shaped moldings in the housing part, whereby the moldings dig into the housing material. Naturally, this requires overcoming deformation forces that hinder simple and fast assembly.
The present invention was developed to provide an improved electrical terminal in which simple assembly and disassembly of the components is facilitated.